YoungArts Philadelphia:
Artist Gathering Presented by Felt Void in association with FringeArts featuring immersive musical performances by YoungArts alumni
Over 11 days, these four artists with deep roots in the city will rehearse, spatialize, and unveil new works in spatialized sound, showcasing how Philadelphia’s artists are shaping the future of communal listening.
All are welcome to celebrate this practice and our city’s resilient arts network. The presentation will be free for YoungArts alumni in Philadelphia. Following the presentation, the evening will offer space for collective joy and connection — alumni will can gather, meet collaborators, and discuss imagine how an ongoing relationships between YoungArts, the city’s arts community, and partners like Felt Void will continue to grow.
Works
Yesseh
Furaha-Ali
Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Yesseh Ali is a freelance saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Playing since the age of nine, Furaha-Ali has been under the tutelage of esteemed mentors at notable institutions such as the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, The Kimmel Center, Settlement Music and Berklee College of Music. Recently, Ali just wrapped up the “Greetings From Your Hometown” ‘25 North American Tour with the Jonas Brothers. Ali continues to perform regularly in the Philadelphia area, as he continues aspirations to travel the world sharing his gift of music.
Benjamin
Louis Brody
Los Angeles-based composer, orchestrator and educator, Benjamin is recognized for his innovative sonic approach and collaborations across film, television, and live concert settings. His work blends electronic and orchestral elements, creating immersive soundscapes that resonate with musicians, filmmakers, and choreographers worldwide.
Brody has collaborated with a wide range of artists from drummer Ian Chang of Son Lux to Hip Hop artist Pharoahe Monch. His music has been placed on various media outlets, including ABC, NBC, Hulu, and The New York Times. Behind the scenes he is widely sought out as an orchestrator for concert works, TV, and film. Notably, he served as the lead orchestrator for Hrishikesh Hirway's (Song Exploder) score for director Drew Hancock's feature film, Companion (New Line Cinema 2025). He currently serves as Department Chair of Music Production at the Juilliard Extension Program.
Jaleel
Shaw
Praised by PostGenre as “one of the best saxophonists of his generation,” artist and composer Jaleel Shaw has forged a singular voice marked by lyricism, daring, and precision. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he earned a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music, graduating with dual degrees in Music Education and Performance, and later received a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music. After releasing his acclaimed debut Perspective, Shaw joined the Roy Haynes Quartet in 2006, beginning a formative apprenticeship and lifelong friendship.
Shaw has headlined major stages worldwide, including the Newport Jazz Festival and Beijing Jazz Festival, and appeared at the Village Vanguard, Birdland, and Duc Des Lombards. Balancing deep tradition with fearless experimentation, he has collaborated with leading artists across generations, shaping a sound both rooted and exploratory.
A compelling recording artist, Shaw appears on numerous celebrated albums and, in 2008, founded Changu Records. His releases include Optimism, The Soundtrack of Things to Come, and Echoes, the latter earning a four-star review from DownBeat and induction into the Library of Congress collection of Pandemic Art. In 2025, he unveiled Painter of the Invisible, exploring joy, grief, beauty, social justice, and ancestral wisdom, and receiving widespread international critical acclaim and honors. Throughout his career, he has earned major awards, topped critics and readers polls, and received commissions from prominent cultural institutions, affirming his place as one of contemporary jazz’s most eloquent improvisers and imaginative composers today worldwide with enduring influence and boundless creative vision for the future.
James
Allister Sprang
James Allister Sprang is a multidisciplinary artist that creates audiovisual poems for the spirit. Using advanced spatial audio he is a pioneer in creating sonic holograms to facilitate uniquely moving forms of immersive storytelling. Sprang's works blend sound, woven paper artworks and poetry to tell immersive stories that celebrate abstractions of deep listening, resilience, and diasporic lineages. James holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from The Cooper Union, both in interdisciplinary studio practice.
Select recent projects include: Rest Within the Wake, 2023 (commissioned byBaryshnikov Arts Center, exhibited at ICA Portland, ME and The Concertgebouw, NL); Aquifer of the Weave, 2022 (commissioned by the Chocolate Factory with support from the State of New York & Carnegie Hall); and Turning Towards a Radical Listening, 2019 (premiered at The Kitchen). Sprang’s work has been presented at institutions such as The Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Tate Modern (UK), MONOM (Berlin), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Maine), The Aldrich Museum, The Public Theater and the Apollo Theater.
James is a Montalvo International Music & Composition Fellow (2024-2027) and a Lincoln Center Collider Fellow (2025-2026). He has been awarded the Pew Fellowship (2023-2024), the Knight Foundation Art + Tech Fellowship (2022-2023) and has completed over 20 residencies domestically and internationally. His work has been covered in publications such as The Observer, Art Papers, Art in America and Artforum.
Immanuel
Wilkins
Grammy nominated alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins burst onto the musical scene in 2020 with the release of his critically acclaimed Blue Note recording debut, Omega. Omega was named the best new jazz release by The New York Times and the best debut jazz album by NPR. Two years later, Wilkins released his sophomore album on Blue Note, The 7th Hand. Like his debut release, The 7th Hand topped numerous year-end lists including NPR, The New York Times and The Financial Times. In 2023, Wilkins was awarded three DownBeat Critics Poll Awards: Best Alto Saxophonist, Best Rising Star Composer, and Best Rising Star Group. In 2024, his quartet won the prize for best international live act of the year by the German Deutscher Jazz Preis and in 2025 his recording Blues Blood was nominated for a Grammy for Best alternative jazz album. Being a bandleader with a working group has allowed Wilkins to grow both as a composer and as an arranger and has led to him receiving numerous commissions and grants including: The Kimmel Center Artist in Residence Commission Program (in collaboration with photographer Rog Walker and videographer David Dempewolf, 2020), and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Grant (in collaboration with saxophonist Odean Pope and poet Herman Beavers, 2023). Wilkins constantly seeks out opportunities for creative connections with artists both within and outside the world of Jazz. The realm of visual arts is of particular interest to Wilkins. He has worked with the filmmakers Cauleen Smith and Ja’Tovia Gary, the sculptor Kennedy Yanko, the painter Leslie Hewitt, and the interdisciplinary artist Theaster Gates. These collaborations have played a decisive role in his ever-expanding aesthetic vision. In March, April and May of 2026, Wilkins will be releasing a 3 volume document of his quartet live at the Village Vanguard.
Location
FringeArts
140 N. Columbus Blvd.
(at Race St.)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Schedule
April 10, 2026
5:45pm
Reception for YoungArts Alumni and Community Partners
7:30pm
Following performance, gathering at Fringe Bar for all
YoungArts Philadelphia: Artist Gathering Presented by Felt Void is made possible in part by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, support from YoungArts and Sarah Arison